Dust from construction hazzards

[bluemonster]

I am having numerous mexican tiles cut out of my floor today in the same room as my tank. I tightly wrapped the entire tank in thinck plastic, shut off the lights for the day and shut off all the fans. Just in case some of the tile grout dust gets into the system and I see signs of stress, is there anything that can be done help the situation? I currently have a bag of two week old carbon in the sump. I was also thinking of using my Magnum water polisher but wasnt sure if the dust disolves upon hitting the water. If a small amount gets in, can it harm the system? Thanks

[Muttling]

The system stress you're seeing is likely a result of having wrapped it so well and leaving the lights off all day. You might want to test your pH to see if it's unusually low which would indicate a CO2 build up.

My guess is that your system will be just fine and will do well because of the precautions you've taken. A day's worth of poor gas exchange is a LOT easier to recover from then is a day's worth of ceramic tile dust.

If you can figure a way to remove the covers for 30 minutes or so without risking a lot of dust getting into the tank, I'd definitely do it but I wouldn't do it if the airborne dust is still a problem in the room.

I don't think carbon is going to help much with contamination from the dust, but it can't hurt.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hmmm. I posted an answer to this question yesterday, but I guess AOL lost it.

Perhaps getting some air to the tank via a skimmer inlet from outside would be a good option. Low O2 could become a significant problem.

I don't know what might come from the dust, but it may dissolve enough to be hazardous. Some extra GAC might be in order. perhaos also Purigen or a Polyfilter.

[bluemonster]

So far evrything looks great. I removed the plastic last night, and put it back on during the day today. It alls eems good. Hopefully I was just being a nervous parent. Thanks for the advice. Happy reefing in the new year!!

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

I'm glad it seems to be going well!

Happy New Year. :)